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The American tenor, Michael Desnoyers, obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Slippery Rock University; and his Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He currently studies with César Ulloa. He was named the 2011 Ben DeBolt Award winner and the 2010 Tony Cuevas Award winner at the Henry and Maria Holt Memorial Scholarship Competition. Other awards include 1st place at the 2004 Chad Williamson Memorial Scholarship Competition; 2nd place at both the 2004 Tri-State NATS vocal competition and 2006 Eastern Regional NATS competitions; 3rd place at the 2010 East Bay Opera League competition; and 3rd place in the 2009 San Francisco Conservatory Bi-Annual Composer’s Art Song Competition.
Michael Desnoyers made his professional debut in 2005 with the Pittsburgh Opera as the Officer in Ariadne auf Naxos under the baton of conductor John Mauceri. He has enjoyed many successful performances since coming to the Bay Area in 2008. Sought out for his “rich and resonant” and “sweet, well-projected lyric tenor,” he has sung over 50 different roles across San Francisco Bay Area stages, including performances with Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera, West Edge Opera, Festival Opera, Lamplighters Music Theatre, Ars Minerva, Pocket Opera, and the Mendocino Music Festival. Praised for “a beautifully produced, even voice whose palpable sincerity and flawless legato seemed ideally suited to Mozart,” he has performed most of the major roles in W.A. Mozart tenor repertoire, including Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and the title role in La clemenza di Tito.
With an extensive repertoire that spans from the Baroque to the 21st Century, Michael Desnoyers has sung a number of world premieres, including the modern world premiere of Daniele da Castrovillari’s 1662 opera La Cleopatra. In 2014, he created the role of Marcus in Giancarlo Aquilanti’s The Oxford Companions. Other favorite roles include Albert in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Marco in The Gondoliers, Sextus in George Frideric Handel's Giulio Cesare, Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto, Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia, and Eisenstein and Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Pang in Turandot, Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld, Sellem in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress, The Witch in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, the County Attorney in the world premiere of Trifles, and Der Narr in Alban Berg's Wozzeck. He frequently performs as a concert soloist, having sung Schubert’s Winterreise, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Coronation Mass, and Vespere solennes; J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion (BWV 245) and Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244); G.F. Handel's Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Camille Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's’s Magnificat, and Dvorak’s Mass in D. He is currently performing as Nemorino with the San Francisco Opera Guild’s Elixir of Love. He also appeared as Brighella in Berkeley West Edge Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Bénédict in a concert reading of Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at Boxcar Theater, and a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise.
Michael Desnoyers can be heard on the Lamplighters’ CD recordings, singing the roles of Cyril in Princess Ida, Ernest in The Grand Duke, and of Lord Tolloller in Iolanthe, where he was praised by Opera News for his “crystal clear timbre.” In 2009 and 2011, he was a member of Chautauqua Opera Young Artist program where he performed the role of Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte 2011) and covered the role of Spoletta (Tosca 2009). In 2006, he participated in Cincinnati Conservatory’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca in Lucca, Italy. He has performed with many Bay Area vocal ensembles, including the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, American Bach Soloists (Director: Jeffrey Thomas), Capella SF, and Gaude.
A passionate and active supporter of music education, Michael Desnoyers is the Director of Vocal Music at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, where he conducts concert choir, chamber singers, tenor/bass ensemble “The Clef Hangers,” stage directs opera, and teaches vocal technique, AP Music Theory, and Aural Skills 1/2. He performed with the San Francisco Opera Guild’s program Opera a la Carte for nine seasons, bringing shortened versions of popular operas to elementary and middle schools. He currently lives in San Francisco, California. |
